Red Sox News & Notes – 4/5

You’ll have to excuse us here at SOX & Dawgs today. It’s been mighty crazy around these parts with our UConn Huskies men’s basketball team winning the 2011 NCAA Championship last night. We weren’t around yesterday do to something that came up last minute but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about the Boston Red Sox.

A fan waves a broom as others stand in the closing minutes of an MLB baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers on Sunday, April 3, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers won 5-1, sweeping the Red Sox in the Rangers' weekend season opener. As you already know, the Boston Red Sox were swept out of Texas on Sunday afternoon. The pitchers seem to be homer happy in the fact that the Rangers bashed the ball like the Cerrano of old. But if you had the pleasure of listening to Boston sports fans yesterday, you would have thought it was the end of the world (maybe in 2012).

I heard many different things, the main one that new pitching coach Curt Young should be fired. So I ask you this. How is it his fault that pitchers left the pitches out over the plate? It’s not. To steal a word from tonight’s starter Josh Beckett, they simply didn’t “execute” their pitches.

Secondly, do you realize this is a 162-game marathon and not a three-game sprint?

Three games does not make a season and will probably have little impact on the final results other than three losses. How many times have we seen teams get out of the starting gate hot but only to fade as the season goes along? Right now the Baltimore Orioles are 4-0 and lead the AL East. Do you honestly believe they will finish the season in first place?

Yeah I didn’t think so either. Unless you’re an Orioles fan and I’m sure not all think that.

If the Red Sox had won the last game in Texas on Sunday, my best guess is that people would have still had something to complain about. It’s just the nature of being a Red Sox fan here in New England. But seriously though, it’s THREE GAMES!!!! RELAX will ya!!

Now tonight, we’ll hope that Beckett can find his form and right the ship for the Red Sox. Let’s just hope he doesn’t morph into 2006 Beckett and add to the total of home runs already given up by the Red Sox pitching staff this season.

We’ll be back later with the tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day but for now, enjoy the overnight links by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

Remembering the birth of a closer, five years later [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

New Balance steps into Red Sox lineup [Boston Globe]

Time seems right for Varitek [Boston Globe]

Beckett counting on getting ahead [Boston Globe]

Pitching coach unfazed by brutal start [Boston Herald]

Righty starts 2011 with plenty to prove [Boston Herald]

Sweeping up the Texas mess [Boston Herald]

Red Sox banking on Josh Beckett [Boston Herald]

What does an 0-3 start mean for Red Sox? [Clubhouse Insider]

Beckett determined to start off right in Cleveland [CSNNE.com]

Sox third in payroll, 41 million behind Yanks [CSNNE.com]